Irish rebel songs

[Jay Dubya]

I should start by introducing myself, my name's Jay, I'm nineteen and I'm from Dublin, Ireland. As a child I got into martial arts not long after my parents separated, and added with athletics training, I was working out and exercising for about five times a week for a solid seven years. As I was doing this however, I noticed I was gaining unhealthy weight, which I now realise was due to the ATROCIOUS diet I was putting my body through. Soon I developed issues with how I looked, and rather than talk about it or surround myself with people who could get me out of this situation, I just stopped eating, and drilled cardio exercises religiously. Id say for a solid 3 week period I probably just had a bowl of special K, and ran three hours a day. By 17, I was 6 foot tall and weighed in the region of 125-130 pounds. My friends used to laugh at my size, but many of them just believed it was my natural body. I lived in rural Ireland at the time, want the most popular guy, and would be seen as "Screech" from saved by the bell in my personal group of friends. Also, being a man, I felt that few people would take my problems with anorexia seriously, and I am thankful every day that I managed to find a source of help. My final year of high school, I dramatically attempted to change how I looked. After getting rid of braces, long hair and getting contacts, I sought out a friend who aspired to become a personal trainer, and together we worked on body weight workouts as well as a beneficial diet. It worked, and I'm happy to say that in that final year, Iv never been more driven and organised, working to getting into the university of my dreams as well as putting on a few pounds of muscle.

I started college with an anything goes mentality. I drifted through with a party attitude, had no structure, and as well as harming the work I would put in with my course and my extra curriculars with college media, I put on some pounds of fat, and became a lot weaker than I had. After my first year, and following an accosting from an editor, something happened. I was searching through websites at an ungodly hour, and found nerdfitness. I learned all about the fantastic life and principles that you guys live by. I started with the basic body weight exercises and recently picked up the Rebel Strength guide. This has not only helped my physical state, but my mental state also. Im about to start college in two weeks, with a stable gaggle of roommates who are so supportive, with an enhanced mindset for creating a positive attitude toward my extra curricular life. One of my roommates is an intermediate level gymnast, and as such Iv promised to be his gym support, and am currently preparing for joining one of the many martial arts clubs in my University.

A few weeks ago, I saw the Dark Knight Rises. The nerdfitness lightbulb had just been switched on, and one of the trailers before the film caught my eye, the new superman flick "Man of Steel". Over shots of a young superman trying a cape on, I could hear his father say: "One day, your going to have to make a choice, you have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, whoever that man is, good character or bad, he's going to change the world".

Personally, that resonated so so much. I had the right mindset, I was watching it with strong, like minded people, and throughout my battle of weight loss, there have been a lot of important days, but I feel this is the day Clarke's dad was taking about, and I know by posting here, I'm making the right choice.

Sorry for the overly long sappy post XD, if anyone would want to pm me their experiences with martial arts or life in general, Id love to chat, until then, Ill be introducing myself and poking at the grizzled veterans in the Monk Dojo asking for sagely wisdom.

Thanks,

Jay

[Animalben]

Well done sir on talking about your issues, I think most people associate eating disorders with women and will often laugh it off when it comes to guys.

Good luck with your goals and welcome!

[Porkins77]

One of the hardest things for any of us to do is ask for help. You did it (big time) and for that you should be VERY proud. If you can do that, my friend, you can do anything you put an ounce of effort into. Kudos, and welcome.

[Tocho]

Welcome to NF. What martial arts are you considering?

And big kudos on overcoming anorexia!

[Jay Dubya]

Hey guys, I really appreciate the kind words, Im looking forward to getting involved as much as possible with the community! Hey Tocho, I did karate for 6 years, and Im considering switching to Tae Kwon DO, although my University has nealry 10 martial arts clubs, from Judo to Capoeira! Do you have any recommendations?

[Tocho]

Well, I do Capoeira (been doing it for a year now) and I love it. But there's no sparring or competitive side of it at all, so if you're into that then Capoeira is definitely not for you. It's kind of hard to do sparring when the point is NOT to hit each other!

But yes, I would definitely recommend Capoeira! Other than that I've not done any other martial arts so I'm not really able to recommend anything else. (Although I think I'd enjoy Wing Chun and TKD; I might try one or both of them sometime in the future.)